220 Inadvertent Issuance of a Notice of Allowance
On a rare occasion a notice of allowance is issued mistakenly in an intent-to-use application that, at the time of such issuance, is the subject of an unexpired extension of time to oppose or a timely opposition. If a notice of allowance is inadvertently issued in an intent-to-use application which is the subject of an unexpired extension of time to oppose or a timely opposition, and a statement of use is filed, the notice of allowance will be cancelled by the ITU/Divisional Unit as inadvertently issued. The statement of use will be returned, and the fee submitted therewith will be refunded. [ Note 1.]
Sometimes a notice of allowance issues after a request for an extension of time to oppose has been submitted but before the request is approved. If, by the time the Board learns of the issuance of the notice of allowance, the extension requested has expired, and no opposition or further extension requests have been filed, the Board will issue an action acknowledging the extension request, and indicating that it was well-taken but that time has since expired and no opposition or further request has been filed. The Board will also indicate that a notice of allowance was inadvertently issued during the requested extension period, but since the requested time period has run without subsequent action by the potential opposer, the notice of allowance will not be withdrawn.
NOTES:
1. See TMEP § 1106.03 (Cancellation of Notice of Allowance).